OBJECTIVETo investigate the tongue manifestation features of sexually transmitted and intravenous drug use spread HIV infected population in Xinjiang.

METHODSRecruited were 990 HIV infected subjects in Xinjiang from May 2011 to March 2012, who were assigned to the intravenous drug use spread HIV infected (498 cases) and the sexually transmitted (492 cases). By using tongue figure shoot combined with analyses of experts, tongue manifestations were analyzed and compared between the sexually transmitted and the intravenous drug use spread from four aspects, i.e., the tongue color, the tongue shape, the fur color, and the fur property.

RESULTSCompared with the sexually transmitted population, red tongue, fissured tongue, yellow fur, thick fur, eroded fur, deficiency of fur fluid were more often seen, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05). Compared with the intravenous drug use spread population, pale tongue, white fur, and thin fur were more often seen, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe tongue manifestations of the intravenous drug use spread HIV population reflected inner exuberance of evil toxin and heat impairing qi and yin. Compared with the intravenous drug use spread population, the attack of HIV infection was more hiding in the sexually transmitted population, with milder internal injury. Their Wei-qi was not damaged and no obvious change occurred in the tongue figure.